Lions coach Stange cites two winners: national team and fans who turned up

Over 45,000 fans thronged to the National Stadium to watch the national football team get dumped out of the AFF Suzuki Cup by arch-rivals Malaysia after conceding two injury-time goals on Nov 29 last year.

Last night, in the Lions' first game at their "spiritual home" since the Suzuki Cup debacle, only 7,128 spectators turned up.

Seeing the rows of empty seats in the 55,000-capacity facility would not have instilled Bernd Stange's men with much confidence, and this was reflected in their below-par performance.

And with a fortuitous 1-0 win over Afghanistan, the Lions boosted their chances of qualifying for the Asian Cup for the first time ever.